Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis

In Act I, Scene 2, the purpose of Cassis’ speech is to persuade Brutus to distrust Caesar, and to join him in a conspiracy against Caesar. In his speech to Brutus, Cassius uses a variety of persuasive and rhetorical devices to persuade Brutus to join his cause against Caesar. Cassius is desperate to have Brutus on his side because of his close relation to Caesar and great respect and trust from the people of Rome. The tone of Cassius’ speech to Brutus is introduced with Cassius appealing to Brutus’ sense of responsibility towards Rome. Cassius tells Brutus that he has, “Heard where many of the best respect in Rome, except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus and groaning underneath this age’s yoke, have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes” (I.ii.64-68). Cassius tells Brutus that he is admired by Rome, appealing to Brutus’ value of putting Rome ahead of himself. Cassius uses knowledge of this value to his advantage in his speech, insisting that killing Caesar will be for the good of Rome. Cassius also introduces his speech by persuading Brutus that he is honorable and can be trusted. Cassius tells Brutus that, “Honor is the subject of my story”(I.ii.99). This appeals to the speaker Cassius’ credibility and has an ethical appeal on Brutus, or ethos. This appeal is effective because it connects with something that Brutus values, honor. In Cassius’ speech to Brutus, he uses a comparison comparing Caesar to a Colossus saying, “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves”(I.ii.142-144). Cassius is using an analogy comparing Caesar to Colossus, which was a large statue. Cassius again uses Brutus’ value of honor to persuade when he tells Brutus that if Caesar is in power, he and Brutus will die dishonorable deaths. During the time period, an honorable death was very important to noble Romans, especially Brutus. When Cassius is comparing the two names Brutus and Caesar, he uses the strategy of asking rhetorical questions. “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that ‘Caesar?’ Why should that name be sounded more than yours?(I.ii.149-151).” Cassius also asks, “Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed that he

In Act 1, we learn that Brutus respect Caesar and Caesar respects Brutus. Making this an easy target for Cassius to use Brutus to join the conspirators to kill Caesar. Brutus is loyal to Caesar but we know that Brutus will do anything to keep the people of Rome happy. He was willing to betray his friend in order to save the people of Rome. Although Brutus was assuming that Caesar would betray all his friends because he’s stronger than them; he is at war between betraying Caesar or betraying the people of Rome. Either way Brutus has to pick one and obviously from the context of his soliloquy, readers can tell that Brutus truly honors the citizens. Therefore he ends up betraying his friend (that trust him) and joins the conspirator. Another example

The Roman senators all took part in betraying Caesar by murdering him. One of the main people involved, Brutus, held a funeral service for the deceased Caesar along with a brief speech. One of Julius Caesar's main companions who loved him dearly, Antony, also gave a speech that lasted much longer. After looking through the ethos, logos, and pathos mentioned in this story, it is obvious that Antony is more persuasive.

By doing this, Cassius is showing the audience that he is also self absorbed. The only reason that he is convincing Brutus to kill Caesar is so that Cassius could get to some power and take credit for

Cassius first shows his cunning nature when he convinces Brutus to assassinate Julius Caesar. He knows that the honorable Brutus is of crucial importance in the scheme, and therefore, Cassius pursues his involvement. Even though Brutus “loves [Caesar] well”(I. ii. 82), Cassius manages to “plant the seed of suspicion in [him]” (Mullican). Furthermore, Cassius’

Throughout the play Julius Caesar Antony, Caesar’s loyal servant, has become a bigger and bigger factor in the play. He really breaks out in Act III. In Act III, Brutus and others have killed Caesar, but yet leaves Antony unharmed because he seems harmless. Antony wants to show the public Caesar’s body and say a funeral speech. Brutus, trusting Antony, allows him to do so, but under some certain terms. Antony must speak good of the conspirators and not blame them. Antony uses logos and ethos, irony, and finally establishes ethos to turn the crowd away from Brutus.

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” -Mark Twain. Brutus would of never believed that he has been manipulated into his actions. Brutus was always blinded at the fact that his actions towards people were wrong. Brutus was one of Caesar's good and trusted friends. Cassius, not a huge fan of Caesar, did not like the idea of Caesar as king, for his weaknesses and had a plan to assassinate Caesar. As the leader, he believed Brutus would be a good member for the group for being respected and well-liked by the citizens of Rome. Cassius was able to manipulate him into joining the conspirators. After the assassination of Caesar all his respect from the citizens started to fade away. Antony, a very good friend of Caesar, was able to turn Rome against Brutus. Due to all the hatred from the citizens, he had to flee town and fight a war against Antony and Rome. After losing the war, his wife , and everything he once had, he committed suicide to avoid being killed by an enemy. In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Brutus tragic flaw of being gullible and patriotic caused him to murder a devoted friend and betrayed Rome's trust.

Cassius’ reasoning was based on nothing but envy, he only believed that Caesar would not be good enough as a ruler of the Roman Empire. “Ye gods, it doth amaze me a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone.” (I,ii,128-31). Here Cassius reveals that he believes that Caesar simply is not intelligent enough to rule Rome, not so much that he is going to do bad things. After Cassius saves Caesar from drowning in the water, he begins to believe that he is also stronger than Caesar and believes he should be recognized for being a stronger man than Caesar. Leadership was not always about who was stronger, it was equally important to be able to lead people. Brutus is not perfect either, he is not very bright. As an Idealist he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions and how they can affect him in the future. Cassius proposed that all members of the conspiracy should be sworn to an oath of secrecy, but brutus thinks that all the men are as noble as himself and that none of them will give away the plans. As it ultimately turns out one man betrays the group and Caesar finds

    The people of Rome, although highly gullible and indecisive, love Brutus. Some reasons for this are his nobility, honorability, intelligence and his caring nature.  Cassius thinks that Brutus is noble, he states this in his soliloquy when he says “Well, Brutus, thou art noble. Yet I see thy honorable mettle may be wrought from that it is disposed. Therefore it is meet that noble minds keep ever with their likes, for who so firm that cannot be seduced?” (I,ii,304-308)  Brutus is wanted so terribly by Cassius because of the fact that so many Roman people, including Caesar, trust and adore

Cassius applied this skill in his push to incorporate Brutus into his plot. Cassius identified Brutus as having the flaw of possessing an overpowering sense of obligation to abide by the will of the Roman people. Consequently, Cassius appeals to this quality of Brutus in his recitation of the praise for Brutus that has been spoken by “many of the best [respected people] in Rome” who “Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes”(Shakespeare 1.2.61,64). Cassius is suggesting that Brutus would make a better leader than Caesar if only he could see his own merits as the Roman people do. These deceitful words are used by Cassius to bend a good natured, noble Roman to ensure that his conspiracy has an air of legitimacy as Brutus is revered by

Little do the characters know that Brutus is being persuaded by Cassius, who has the ability to perceive the true motives of men. For instance, Michelle Lee edits,” Other prominent characters in Julius Caesar include Cassius, whose intimate conversations with Brutus persuades him to take part in the conspiracy…” (Lee 1). What this is saying is also agreeing with the fact, Brutus is being

Brutus, the Not so Noble Roman Marcus Brutus, a high ranked and well regarded noble in Rome, participates as a conspirator to assassinate Caesar to prevent Rome from falling into a dictatorship. In result, some conspirators destroy themselves to protect Rome, while others destroy themselves for their own selfish need for power. Marcus Brutus is a noble Roman, but many of his judgments led to his, and other conspirator’s downfall making him the tragic hero in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Brutus is a man who is admired, has good intentions and wants what is best for Rome and its citizens, but his poor decisions lead to his and other conspirator’s downfall.

When Cassius forged the letters to convince Brutus to join the conspirators it was all to change his perspective about Caesar. Brutus was loyal to Caesar and was a good friend of Caesars, and when Cassius created the letters Brutus’ perspective of Caesar changed and he saw Caesar as ambitious. “So let high-sighted tyranny range on till each man drop by lottery…What other bond than secret Romans that have spoke the word and will not palter? And what other oath than honesty to honesty engaged that this shall be or we will fall for it?” (Act II, Scene I pg.20). This quote shows that once Brutus’ perspective changed he forgot about perceiving the situation. The letters made Brutus’ perspective of Caesar as being a powerful person morphing into a tyrant, and the people have “spoken” to him and he must act upon it. Brutus was impacted heavily because after he and the conspirators kill Caesar he felt bad and at the end of the play he shows feeling towards Caesar. “Caesar, now be still; I kill’d not thee with half so good a will.” (Act V, Scene V pg.79). This quote is an example of how his perception never changed but his perspective did and his perspective highly influenced him into forgetting his perception of the situation. If Brutus’ were to listen to his perception of the situation and not let his perspective be changed Caesar would’ve probably avoided being killed; Brutus would’ve knew what

Brutus had a belief that was the exact opposite of Cassius's; Brutus was a stoic, which meant that he believed that bad things don't happen to good people because the gods won't allow it. Brutus just went along with life never taking rash like Cassius did. Brutus accepted everything as it came because he thought it was the will of the gods. Because of Brutus's beliefs Cassius has to go through much effort to persuade Brutus to join the conspirators. Cassius was then forced to write fake letters so that Brutus could see a

The author uses the character, Cassius, to show that wanting power can corrupt a person through Cassius, as he corrupts and manipulates others around him as well. Cassius need for power made him seem a little more insane. Cassius uses fake letters from the people that will “shake him” (I.ii.322) into joining their alliance. From giving Brutus the letters, it causes an internal conflict in Brutus of what's right and what’s wrong. This shows that Cassius is willing to manipulate someone to get what they want. Cassius manipulates Brutus by making him believe the people of rome